Thurston Dart’s 1969 edition of the two printed books of Pièces de Clavecin by Chambonnières (1670) is reprinted here without modification, except for the following:

1) the term ‘Ordre’ has not been retained, since it was not used by Chambonnières and could lead to confusion with later usage in France by François Couperin and others. In the original print, the unnumbered pieces are arranged simply by tonality, forming in effect eleven unnamed suites of varying length. The titles ‘Pièces en la mineur’, etc., have been inserted in the modern Table to mark these groupings;

2) a few minor misprints of the 1969 edition have been corrected without notice;

3) page layout has been altered where necessary so as to eliminate inconvenient page turns (with the exception of the ‘Sarabande de la Reyne’, engraved on three pages); for the same reason the order of pieces 16–17, 29–30 and 59–60 has been reversed;

4) Professor Dart’s Introduction has been provided in English, and several facsimile pages from the 1670 print are included.

This edition of Chambonnières’ printed works, embodying the research and views of a distinguished scholar and performer, was the last to be prepared by Thurston Dart for Éditions de l’Oiseau-Lyre, with whom he had collaborated for many years. We are pleased to reprint this seminal work by the founder of the French harpsichord school, on the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of his birth.